


Never Again

by flannelflowers



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Beth's past is darker than we think, Canon-Typical Violence, Choose Your Own Ending, F/M, Implied-Past Beth pays for rent with a sexual favor, Mild Language, Tiniest version of choose your own adventure, We can have our cake and eat it too, season 2 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:34:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29680563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flannelflowers/pseuds/flannelflowers
Summary: Beth thinks on her past and the decision in front of her. It can go one of two ways. Who will she choose?Or Season 2 finale with choose your own ending.
Relationships: Beth Boland/Rio
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	1. The Decision

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short choose who she shoots fic. Or read both and let me know which you liked better.

Beth had buried her old life deep, deep down but this new life kept bringing up memories to the surface. She knew it shocked Ruby and Annie how well she’d slipped into this life of crime but what they didn’t know was it wasn’t her first time. She thought back to when their dad walked out, their mother turned to the bottle, and Beth had to step up and raise little Annie. She learned quickly that the only person you could trust was yourself. She had secrets, ones she never told Annie or even Ruby. 

When Beth was trying to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, she did things she never thought she’d do. But when you’re desperate to keep your family safe you will do whatever it takes. Sometimes it meant stealing wallets from purses at her younger sister’s school play. And sometimes it meant letting your skeezy landlord have his way with her when she 17. Beth shivered remembering his disgusting breath and grabby hands on her body. She promised herself a long time ago she would never be in that situation again. 

Beth hustled hard day and night, then she met Dean. He wasn’t perfect, kind of dim but he was sweet and really cared about Beth. He helped her with Annie. Beth could do worse. Then they found a little success with the dealership. Beth felt like she could finally breathe. Annie got pregnant but they weathered that storm just like with everything else. Beth was in a position to start a family, one that wasn’t messed up. She wanted the white picket fences so bad that she got complacent. She ignored all the warning signs. She trusted someone else to take care of her family. Big mistake. 

When their father left, she promised never let a man or anyone have power over her again. But Beth let Dean piss away the life they had built. She picked herself up and worked hard her ass off to get where she was at now. She knew she’d made mistakes but the one thing she wasn’t was weak. She was sick and tired of men underestimating her. 

She realized she kept letting these men have power over her; Dean, Agent Turner, Rio. She was sick of it and it ended now. 

When the hood was taken off her head, the anger of the last 30 years crashed over her making her hysterical. She knew she looked crazy. She knew she sounded crazy. She just couldn’t muster the effort to give a fuck. 

The weight of the gun felt heavier with the decision before her. Rio or Agent Turner. 

Agent Turner looked rough tied up against the pole. He’d been on her trail for over a year. Playing a game of cat and mouse trying to squeeze her out. But he didn’t stop there. He had Rio in custody before and he fucked it up not her. Now he wanted the women instead. How cliché that men become threatened by women who have the nerve to go after what they want and be powerful. Pathetic. 

Then there was Rio. She felt too many emotions for the man in front of her. He burst into her life with a gold gun and that damn smirk that he was wearing now. He lit the fire in Beth that she thought was long extinguished. He embodied that danger that she never could quite quit. He was cocky and an asshole. He thought he was the boss and could play with Beth’s life like it meant nothing? He dangled her like a worm on a hook too many times. 

As she shifted between the two men a calm washed over when she knew what to do. She smiled a serene smile and pulled the trigger. 


	2. Rio

Beth realized that all her new problems stemmed from the devastatingly handsome man in front of her. His smirk only amplified the rage in her gut. He thought he could swing into her life and control her? She paid her debts. Beth wasn’t a lackey, she was a partner, she was a fucking boss. 

Rio had no idea what he had in her. She thought he was starting to understand when they made the deal at the dealership but he kept proving over and over again that he underestimated her. Beth could forgive assumptions because of the façade she spent two decades building but Rio had seen her action. Beth couldn’t take one more man taking her for granted and she wouldn’t. 

He always got off on waving his gun around, using his boys to tear shit up and scare housewives. But she had the power now. She’d been in this position before and she didn’t use it. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. 

“Shoot him!!” Rio was getting angry. 

He wanted her to do his dirty work. He wanted to use her again. Rage swelled and threatened to spill over. 

“He’s not the problem. You are! You’re the one that keeps putting everything on me.” 

“Quit your bitching. It is on you, now take care of it, Elizabeth.” 

“Stop it. Stop it! STOP IT!!! You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to use my name like you know me.” 

“Oh I know you mama. I know you so well that I know that you bitch and moan but you’ll do the damn job. You wanna work? Then this is what needs to be done.” 

Beth did want the problem to go away. But she knew there would always be problems with Rio. More problems that she’d be blamed for, more things she’d have to do that would chip away at her soul. He’d once said if you want to be the king you gotta kill the king, so she was surprised he was so shocked when she turned the gun on him. If he knew her so well then how did he not know she wanted to the Queen? 

_She smiled a serene smile and pulled the trigger._

She felt a split second of guilt as she pulled the trigger. But then the rage took over once again and she pulled it twice more. What Rio didn’t know is that Beth knew how to handle a gun. She’d gotten him in the chest and shoulders. Painful, but if she didn’t hit his heart, he could survive unless he laid there the bled out. But that was up to him. 

If he lived then maybe she’d see him again. Maybe he’d try to kill her. Or maybe he would finally understand what she’s capable of. Either way, she was free. 


	3. Agent Turner

_This is your problem._

Rio wasn’t wrong. Agent Turner was the one who messed everything up. He’s the one that escalated everything. He was the one that wanted to destroy families. He went after Stan. Used Annie with his partner. Even with all his faults Rio never went after her family. Turner just would never stop. 

She glanced at Rio who was smirking wider as her gun slowly shifted solely on Turner. Rio’s eyes were shining with pride and something else. 

Beth knew it was fucked up to fall in love with a criminal, or gangbanger as Annie like to say. One who threatened her life multiple times, put her and the girls at risk, and jerked her around more than a dog’s chew toy but she was hooked. It was like she finally got to be herself. He unleashed something in her and she didn’t want to let that go. Even if that meant being a criminal too. 

Turner was in the way. And like Rio said it was a gift, a twisted gift, but a gift nonetheless. One pull of the trigger and they could be rid of this mess. Sure there would be another agent, another cop that gave them trouble but that was a problem for another day. Turner didn’t know when to quit so she would have to stop him herself. 

“You’re not a killer.” Turner coughed up some blood onto his white shirt. 

Wrong thing to say. 

“You have no idea what or who I am.” Beth said menacingly. 

She took a few steps towards the man on the floor then squatted down to be eye level with the FBI agent. 

“You know, my entire life everyone thinks they know me, have me figured out. Whether it was being white trash in school or the perfect PTA soccer mom. And yeah, I grew up white trash. I was a PTA soccer mom. But what you don’t get is that I am so much more than that.” 

Beth stood to her full height and pointed the gun at his head. 

“You can’t do this.” 

“You should’ve left us alone, Jimmy.” 

_She smiled a serene smile and pulled the trigger._

The room was silent aside from the echo of the gunshot. Beth forced herself to look at the now dead body slumped on the floor. Once she took it in, the fact that she had killed someone, she looked up and walked a few steps away. Rio broke the silence. 

“I knew you had it in you.” 

Beth turned on him. 

“You jerk me around again. Treat me like I’m just work. The next bullet is for you.” Beth threatened seriously. 

Rio bit his bottom lip before nodding. 

“You got it mama.” 

She raised an eyebrow at him. In this moment she didn’t want to be defined by what she was to other people. She was her own person. 

“Elizabeth.” He corrected. 

Beth gave him a slow smile. 

“I’m trusting that you’ll take care of this.” Beth used a tone that told him he better have a plan. 

“I got it. Violent gang shooting on the north side. Shouldn’t have been tailing so close.” Rio said looking down at the body. 

“Good. Now I’m going home for a bath and sleep. Be quiet when you come in.” Beth was slightly nervous assuming that he’d come over after everything. She could laugh at the absurdity of feeling nervous at inviting Rio over when she’d just shot someone. But by killing Turner, she was showing Rio she was committed to this, to them. 

Rio gaze her a dazzling smile before pulling her in for a deep kiss. 

“See ya soon.” He promised. 

She knew he was still smiling when she left the empty apartment. 


End file.
